Getty Images best and worst of SAG red carpet
Best Week Ever on Evan Rachel Wood. 'Her lips are busy!'
My Stuff & Cr*p listen to tracks from all the nominated Oscar scores
Just Jared interviews Alan Cumming. He's started directing again
Yuppie Punk mp3s to coincide with this year's Oscar nominees
Empire Driver and Swank co-starring in a legal drama that hopes to be all Erin Brockovichy
Movie City Indie Dustin Lance Black's on the abundant Milk nominations
Charlie Rose Great conversation about Benjamin Button with AO Scott and David Denby. Watch it
The Daily says goodbye to celebrated author John Updike who died earlier today. As you may know, Updike's last novel, published just about a year ago now, was a sequel to The Witches of Eastwick called The Widows of Eastwick. He didn't like the 1980s film version of the earlier novel (though he was a fan of Michelle Pfeiffer's "Sukie") and many stories from the set at the time indicated that the stars weren't that happy either. Nevertheless, I'm hoping that his estate, the actresses and the movie studios think hard about mounting a film adaptation. How grand could a reunion of Susan Sarandon, Cher and La Pfeiffer be? Their characters are 15 or so years older in Widows than their counterpart celebrities are now so there's plenty of time to get this project cracking (Start now. Movies take forever... especially when expensive/skittish/retired actors are involved) and we definitely need more films about elderly women. When was the last time someone made a movie primarily about them?
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20 comments:
Calendar Girls? Or is there a more recent one for movies primarily about older woman?
You should read this article, if only because it mentions the animated feature "ghetto" - a phrase I believe you coined?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28877503/
Here's to Up. Not that I ever take AICN seriously (and I mean, ever) - but it's interesting how it's supposed to be better than Wall-E. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
"Ya-Ya Sisterhood?" That was '02. Or was that too awful to qualify?
BTW, that Denby/Scott/Rose video was a treat indeed, if only to finally know what those critics look like.
anon -- i never believe pre-release buzz. everything is always said to be better than the last thing, you know?
john t -- i guess that would qualify. the last drama i could think of was WHALES OF AUGUST and that was in the freakin' 80s.
kurtis o - i think yaya doesn't count because it was primarily about their younger selves... and not their senior citizen incarnations :)
Are you goin to do a podcast anytime soon?
Totally off-topic:
I've been searching around for your big "Actresses of the Aughts" list from not long ago. Where is it hiding?
Hah! Take that Hilary Swank. Your name doesn't sound so cool now with Minnie Driver in the cast.
Just say that ten times fast. It's so fun! Minnie Driver!
I love Denby's critique of Brad Pitt's acting. Pitt brings a sharp physicality to his characters but he doesn't emote precisely; his characters' emotions tend to be rather broad (which usually works, since he often plays emblems or mythologised personae).
I think you should watch this. It's hilarious
Meryl Streep on the Price is Right
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvXtMfbWsMk
Wasn't there that retched Bonneville movie?
When do we get to stop talking about Ben Button? B/c I'm eager to.
I've spent the last hour just listening to the bits of film scores from the link.
*This* close from tears from the Milk score, I'd say that's a well done score.
RJ, who knows, maybe next year, we'll be longing for the days of Button-talk. Um... optimism! :D
I liked the Scott/Denby discussion, because they get close to hitting the nail on the head, I think, about the 'coldness' some feel about BB.
Sally Belle, I know we've chatted over this topic before, but why the ardent Evan Rachel Wood defense? Is she secretly your daughter? It's just a fun bit of gossip
Because....gossip isn't fun.
Didn't you go to high school?
And, as I have explained, I work in this town and I WORK with, work for, know and like these people.
It's not fun...or funny. How would you like it?
Okay, Sally, fair enough. I'm sorry for your friends if their feelings were hurted.
Thanks.
:)
I liked George Miller's movie, actually...Cher-Sarandon-Pfeiffer were outstanding and hot...
Nicholson was incredible...it should be nice that year he had received the nomination for his Devil, instead for IRONWEED (bleah...I just love Streep about that movie...), but we know the Academy is quite complicated when you leave drama territory...
Anyway RIP Updike...we'll miss you...
mirko
I accidentally posted this in a fairly old discussion, so, moving it up.
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I can't think of any other place to say this, but I'd like to petition Nathaniel to remove the "Biopic" designation from Frost/Nixon. A Biopic is a movie that tells someone's life story, not all films that include real life characters are biopics. The movie focuses on a very brief period (a few months) of its characters' life. And for that matter, if it is a biopic, who is the subject? Frost of Nixon? I'd argue they both get equal play as protagonist and neither one of them meets the usual biopic-lead template, as we don't see them grow up, grow old, or grow into alcoholism or domestic strife.
I understand that, according to the poll, I'm in the extreme minority of people who liked F/N above all others in the Picture category, and I think a lot of the malaise is tied up in the "just another biopic" line. It's not a biopic. Milk is a biopic and both Slumdog Millionaire, Benjamin Button, and The Reader are de-facto biopics in that while their subjects are fictional they are essentially life-stories with the same formulae and tools. Flashbacks. Life lessons. Coming-of-age subplots. You name it. Their bio-pics in the same way that my imaginary best friend is my soulmate.
So, please, Nathaniel. Make me happy. Change the genre listing on Frost/Nixon's Best Picture page from Biopic to Historical. I love the site and have been making daily visits for months now. But everytime I see that listing, it makes me cringe. Because Frost/Nixon is not a biopic.
And, while I'm at it, neither was "Capote".
Continued best,
-Jake.
jake -- you do make a good point.
i guess the umbrella feeling on biopics is "real life characters" but that's not exactly true.
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